Best Dog Treats for Clicker Training

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Details

The best dog treats for clicker training are small, soft and low in calories, so that you can reward often without overfeeding. This guide compares six training-treat listings from six brands, using the title and first bullet points on each Amazon page. The exact keyword search returned mostly clickers and treat pouches, so the treats here come from a related search for soft training treats. Calorie figures appear only where a listing states them, and the daily limit comes from veterinary and breed-club guidance.

Quick answer

• Keep each treat small. Several listings describe bite-sized or breakable pieces, and small rewards let you train in short, frequent sessions.
• Count treat calories against the daily total. The AKC advises that treats should make up no more than about 10 percent of a dog’s daily diet, measured in calories rather than in number of treats.
• Use the per-treat calorie figure when it is stated. Buddy Biscuits gives 1.5 calories per treat, Jiminy’s gives fewer than 3, and Fruitables gives fewer than 4.
• Break soft treats into smaller pieces when the bullets allow it. The Soft Bites listing says one treat can be torn into three rewards.

Why calories decide the choice

Training treats are the reward, and the reward is also food. The Cornell Riney Canine Health Center’s obesity guidance says treats add calories, and that individual treats can run from about 7 to 150 kcal each. It also notes that treats can supply a large share of a pet’s calories, which is why the amount given needs to be curbed during weight loss. Treats cannot be an extra on top of a normal diet; they have to come out of the daily allowance.

The AKC puts the limit in clear terms: treats should make up no more than about 10 percent of a dog’s daily diet, and the 10 percent refers to calories, not to the number or volume of treats. The Animal Medical Center’s weight guidance says the same thing in plainer form, advising that treats be limited to 10 percent of the calculated daily calorie allotment and counted in the daily total. Together, the three sources give one rule: the calories in every treat, including training treats, belong in the daily total.

The arithmetic is simple once you have the daily calorie figure. Your vet or the food label is the place to get that number, because the right amount depends on the dog’s size, activity and condition. As a worked example, a dog that needs 1,000 calories a day has a treat budget of 100 calories at the 10 percent limit. Divide that budget by the calories in one treat to get the number of treats per day. At 1.5 calories a treat, the budget is about 67 treats; at 3 calories a treat, it is about 33.

The six listings, one by one

The Amazon Basics chicken training treats come in a 2 lb (32 oz) resealable bag. The bullets describe small, bite-sized treats for training, with chicken as the first ingredient and no added corn, soy or wheat. They also say no added colors or artificial flavors. The first bullets do not give a calorie count per treat, so the budget has to be worked out from the package label. The title says the product was previously sold under another name, and the bullets say packaging may vary.

The Soft Bites training treats are a blueberry beetroot recipe sold as three 6 oz bags. The bullets say a single treat can be torn into three rewards, and that the treats are soft enough to break by hand. They also describe the treats as suited to puppies, seniors and all breed sizes, and as free of corn, wheat, soy and artificial preservatives, with a Non-GMO Project Verified mark. A bag that can be divided this way gives you more rewards from fewer treats, which helps the daily count.

The Buddy Biscuits bacon training bites are sold as two 10 oz pouches. The bullets give the calorie figure directly: about 1.5 calories per treat, with about 500 treats per bag. The bullets also say the information applies to the pack, and they describe a natural pork liver base and no corn, soy or artificial flavors. Of the six listings, this one gives the clearest calorie figure, which makes the budget arithmetic easy to check.

The Jiminy’s sweet potato and peas training treats come in a 6 oz bag. The bullets say each treat is under 3 calories and that the treats are small, easy to break and shaped to hold and lure a dog. The listing features cricket protein, and it says the treats are made for dogs with sensitive stomachs and for dogs with food allergies. Those health-related claims are the seller’s, and the sources we opened do not cover them.

The Blue Buffalo Bits Plus chicken treats come in a 9.5 oz bag. The bullets describe soft and chewy bites that include real pumpkin and prebiotic fiber, along with vitamin A, vitamin E and zinc. They describe the bites as the right size for regular treating. The first bullets do not give a calorie count, so the calorie budget again needs the package label.

The Fruitables Skinny Minis training treats are sold as a 20 oz pack of two. The bullets say each treat has fewer than 4 calories, that the treats are bite-sized and made with bacon and sweet potato, and that they contain no wheat, corn or soy. The two-pack is sold by total weight, so the count of pieces per pack is the figure to compare with the other listings.

Soft treats and size: what the listings say

Five of the six listings describe their treats as soft or chewy, and two of them, Soft Bites and Jiminy’s, say the treats break or tear into smaller pieces. Soft texture makes it easier to split a reward, and the Soft Bites bullets make that point directly. The sources we opened do not compare soft treats with hard biscuits for learning, so the choice between textures is a matter of what your dog will work for and how easily the treat breaks.

Piece size matters more than the label for a training session. A treat that is small enough to swallow quickly lets you deliver a reward within a second or two of the click, which is the timing the marker research describes. The listings describe their treats as bite-sized, but none gives a piece size in millimeters, so check the pieces when the bag arrives.

What the listings do not tell you

Only three of the six listings give a calorie figure in their first bullets: Buddy Biscuits, Jiminy’s and Fruitables. The Amazon Basics and Blue Buffalo listings and the Soft Bites listing do not. For those products, the package label is the only source for the calorie count, and the daily budget must be worked out from it before you start the session.

None of the listings gives a complete nutritional breakdown in its first bullets, so fat, protein and fiber figures are not available for comparison. The Blue Buffalo listing names fiber and vitamins, and the Jiminy’s listing names protein from crickets, but neither gives a percentage. Those details, if they matter for your dog, need the full product page or the label.

A training budget you can use

Start with the daily calorie figure from your vet or the food label. Take 10 percent of that number as the treat budget. Divide the budget by the calories per treat to find how many rewards fit in a day. Then split training into sessions so the total stays inside the budget. This matches the AKC and Animal Medical Center guidance that treats are part of the daily total, not an addition to it.

If a treat has no calorie figure on the listing, read the label before you start, and do not guess from the weight of the bag. A bag weight tells you how much treat is in the pouch, not how many calories one piece has. The Cornell guidance is clear that the range of treat calories is wide, so a guess can be far off.

Training with treats

Use a treat that the dog will work for, and make it small enough that you can give many in a session without a long chewing break. Soft treats that tear into smaller rewards, like the Soft Bites bag, let you keep the count high. Keep the treats in a pouch so they are ready for the click, and give the reward promptly after the click, since the marker works best when the reward follows soon.

Rotate treats only when you need to. Switching flavors often can make a dog less interested in the basic reward, and the sources we opened do not dispute that point, but they do not show a clear benefit either. Keep the treat that works and change it only if the dog’s calorie budget or health needs a change.

Mistakes to avoid

• Counting the number of treats instead of their calories. The AKC is clear that the 10 percent limit is about calories.
• Adding training treats on top of a normal meal without changing the meal. The Animal Medical Center says treats belong in the daily total.
• Using a large bag weight as a calorie guide. The weight does not tell you the calories per piece.
• Choosing a treat for a health claim alone. The bullets make allergy, sensitive-stomach and digestion claims that the sources we opened do not cover.
• Giving full-size treats when a smaller or breakable one would do, since small pieces help the count.

How we chose

We searched Amazon.com in Chrome on 21 October 2026 for the exact keyword. The results were clickers and treat pouches, so we ran two related searches for soft dog training treats and small soft chewy dog training treats. We kept products whose main use is a dog treat, and we set aside chews, dental sticks, toys that dispense treats and treat pouches with no treat in them.

We read each listing’s title and its first bullet points. We chose one listing per brand, so the set includes six brands. The Fruitables listing was included as the sixth distinct brand in the related results, and its first bullets state a per-treat calorie figure.

Our criteria were the calorie figure stated in the bullets, the piece size and texture described, and the ingredient claims in the bullets. We did not rank by price, ratings or sales figures, because those were not captured.

What we could not verify

• Calories per treat for three of the six listings, since their first bullets give no figure and the package label was not available.
• Whether any treat is complete or balanced as a diet, and whether any treat suits a dog with a medical condition.
• Health and allergy claims in the bullets, including those about cricket protein, sensitive stomachs and digestion support.
• Whether a soft treat holds up in a pouch in warm weather, since the sources we opened do not cover storage.
• The Non-GMO Project Verified mark on one listing, which the bullets state and which we did not check.
• Price, stock, delivery and ratings. None of these was captured from the pages.
• Anything below the first bullet points. Several bullets were cut off at capture.

Calorie budgets across the set

Three listings state a per-treat figure in their bullets, which makes the daily budget easy to work out. Using the 100 calorie budget from the worked example above, the budget holds about 67 Buddy Biscuits treats at 1.5 calories each. Because the Jiminy’s and Fruitables figures are upper limits, the counts for those two are minimums: a treat under the stated figure gives you more rewards. At the stated figures, the same budget holds about 33 Jiminy’s treats at 3 calories each and about 25 Fruitables treats at 4 calories each.

Work the numbers for your dog’s own allowance. If the daily allowance is 150 calories instead of 100, the Buddy Biscuits figure gives about 100 rewards, the Jiminy’s figure gives about 50 at 3 calories each, and the Fruitables figure gives about 37 at 4 calories each. These are arithmetic results, not a recommendation for the right amount. The right daily figure is a question for your vet or the food label.

The listings without a calorie figure in the first bullets need the package label before you can run this calculation. Until a label gives a per-treat figure, you cannot know how many rewards a day the budget allows, so do not start a training plan from the bag weight alone.

FAQ

How many training treats can my dog have a day?

The AKC advises keeping treats to no more than about 10 percent of the daily diet by calories. Work out your dog’s daily calorie figure with your vet or the food label, take 10 percent, and divide by the calories in one treat. That gives the number of rewards the day can hold.

Are soft training treats better than hard ones?

The listings describe their treats as soft or chewy and as easy to break, which makes them easy to split into smaller rewards. The sources we opened do not compare soft and hard treats for learning, so choose by calories, piece size and what your dog will work for.

Do low-calorie treats mean my dog gets less nutrition?

The AKC describes the 10 percent rule as a cap on treat calories, and the sources do not say that low-calorie treats remove nutrients from a dog’s diet. Treats are an add-on to a balanced diet, so the main meal still carries the nutrition. Ask your vet if you are unsure what the daily meal should contain.

Do training treats count toward the daily calories?

Yes. The Animal Medical Center says treats belong in the daily calorie total, and the AKC says the 10 percent limit covers training rewards. Treats should fit inside the daily allowance, not sit on top of it.

Can I use the same treat for every training session?

The sources we opened do not say how often a treat should change. Keep the treat your dog responds to, watch the daily calorie total, and change the treat only if the calorie budget or the dog’s health calls for it.

Bottom line

Choose a small treat that you can count, use the per-treat calorie figure when the listing gives one, and fit every reward inside the daily calorie budget. Treat the health and allergy claims in the bullets as the sellers’ own until a vet or the label confirms them.

For another reward idea, our treat-dispensing toy guide covers a slower way to give treats, and our leash and collar set guide covers gear for walk training.

Sources

• American Kennel Club, How many treats can a dog have: https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/health/how-many-treats-can-dog-have/
• Cornell University Riney Canine Health Center, Biggest health problem in canine medicine: obesity: https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/riney-canine-health-center/canine-health-information/biggest-health-problem-canine-medicine-obesity
• Animal Medical Center (New York), Weight management tips for pets: https://www.amcny.org/?p=7130